For the seventh straight time, the Sacramento State football won its home opener at Hornet Stadium.

Facing Southern Utah for the first time since 1995 on Saturday night, the Hornets came away with a 23-17 win, ending an eight-game losing streak dating back to last season.

“It’s really nice to get this thing back on track. All our guys made play after play when they had to,” head coach Steve Mooshagian said.

The win was the first for the Hornets since the 47-21 home victory against Idaho State last Sept. 27. Senior quarterback Ryan Leadingham threw six touchdowns and junior Tyronne Gross rushed for 240 yards in that game.

Saturday night, the Hornets used the home field advantage to jump on top of the visitors early. On its second drive of the night, Sac State took the ball 62 yards in 11 plays for an early 7-0 lead.

Josh Farrell’s two-yard run on fourth down and one and Phillip Perry’s nine-yard catch on third and eight were key plays in the drive, which ended with freshman running back Ryan Mole scoring his first career touchdown. Mole had 125 yards rushing on the night, as well.

Sac State would build on the lead in the second quarter by adding a 32-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Mitch Lively. It was the Hornets’ first made field goal since Sept. 13, 2003 at Cal Poly.

Going into halftime the lead was 10-3 for the Hornets after senior cornerback Zeph Payne blocked a 39-yard field goal attempt at the end of the half.

The Hornet lead expanded in the early moments of the third quarter after a drive that ended with a spectacular touchdown catch by senior wide receiver Fred Amey.

“It was huge for us to get the ball after halftime and come down and score. We wanted the ball coming out of the locker room,” Mooshagian said.

Despite the deficit, Southern Utah did not let the game get out of hand. Using an interception by Brian Majors and a personal foul penalty on Sac State defensive back Andrew Bristow, the Thunderbirds cut the lead to 17-10 on quarterback Casey Rehrer’s touchdown run.

After a stalled Hornet drive, Southern Utah would score again, tying up the score at 17 on a touchdown run by Ryan Filipe. Rehrer threw for 72 yards on five completions on the drive.

Sac State finally answered Southern Utah’s two straight scores with one of its own. Two quick passes from Leadingham to Amey ended with a 50-yard touchdown catch and run for Amey. The All-America candidate receiver finished the night with eight catches for 158 yards and two scores.

Mooshagian said with all the Southern Utah blitzing, his team really wanted to get the ball into Amey’s hands.

“We felt like if we could get the ball off we had good match-ups outside with our receivers.”

Hornet wide-outs were on the receiving end of all 16 Leadingham completions.

With a 23-17 lead late in the contest, Sac State had to rely on its defense to finish the job. The Thunderbirds had two fourth quarter drives end in Hornet territory with the chance to tie or take the lead. With less than three minutes remaining, freshman safety Brent Webber recovered a fumble forced by cornerback Brandon Smith on the Sac State 11-yard line.

The Hornets’ defense was much improved this week after allowing 59 points and nearly 600 yards of offense in Reno last weekend. Defensive coordinator Tim Skipper’s group stopped the Thunderbirds three times on fourth down chances and sacked Rehrer six times.

Starting for the first time at defensive end, junior Jacob Houston led the unit with his eight and a half total tackles and a school record tying three sacks.

“I really haven’t felt this good in a while,” Houston said. “I don’t know what was in me today. Must have been something I ate.”

Thunderbird head coach Wes Meier was disappointed with the way his team started slow but felt they gained confidence as the game went on.

“The slow start really hurt. We made adjustments, and I felt like we got ourselves into position to get the win. We played a lot better in the second half, but the fumble late in the fourth quarter took any opportunity away from us. Some uncharacteristic mistakes by our team took us of our game.”

Sac State improved to 1-1 on the year with the Causeway Classic next. Southern Utah dropped to 1-1 after defeating a Big Sky opponent in Weber State on Sept. 4.